Archive:

2022

LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “An airplane analogy is one way to describe the relationship between council and staff. Think of one wing as political and the other as administration. If either wing is not functioning properly, the plane will crash,” stated Peter Steblin, Coquitlam City Manager


As each new generation inherits the world, vital knowledge is forgotten. Generational amnesia has profound effects on the way that we see the world. The challenge is to overcome generational amnesia so that communities learn from past experience, apply this knowledge, and achieve better policy and financial outcomes. Peter Steblin provides a perspective on how elected councils and local government staff can function effectively to arrive at affordable and effective solutions to challenges. He says, “Staff gives good advice and council makes the decision. The operative phrase is a respect-based relationship.”

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern always acts as a great sounding board about the concepts underpinning our network approach in general and our Ambassadors Program in particular,” stated Derek Richmond, Partnership for Water Sustainability (November 2022)


“The biggest takeaway from our conversation with Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern concerns the ‘what, how and who’ as the current leadership of the Partnership looks ahead to pass the baton.. Using the Partnership’s Ambassadors Program as the example of WHAT; – this was the breakthrough to articulate our need for succession planning and sustainability of the network. The WHO now becomes obvious because it is the ambassadors themselves. The HOW is now clear too, by looking back at what we were successful with in the past,” stated Derek Richmond.

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “For decades we have trained our elected officials how to think and what to do with a plan. But now, with an Asset Management Plan for Sustainable Service Delivery, we want them to do something completely different. No wonder they are confused,” stated Wally Wells of Asset Management BC (November 2022)


“We have managed assets for decades and understand what that is and what we are doing. Suddenly we took two very simple words, reversed them, and went from managing assets to asset management. The result? We confused everyone. Section 7 of the Community Charter defines the roles and responsibilities of local government in terms of ‘care of infrastructure and services’. In other words, Sustainable Service Delivery. This goes to the heart of affordable and sustainable re-investment in municipal infrastructure assets to meet a level-of-service desired by the community,” stated Wally Wells.

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Well-maintained municipal infrastructure assets are worthless IF THEY DO NOT provide a service. Also, for any asset management approach to be successful, it must not focus on the infrastructure asset by itself,” stated Glen Brown, founding Chair of Asset Management BC


In British Columbia, local governments must show how they are progressing along the Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery continuum. “Money – it should be about how to get the most value out of every dollar spent on municipal infrastructure. Too often, thinking stops after the capital investment is made. Yet everyone needs to be thinking in terms of life-cycle costs, including future recapitalization of the investment,” stated Glen Brown. Section 7 of the Community Charter defines the roles and responsibilities of local government in terms of “care of infrastructure and services”.

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “People who live, work and play on the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw people are committed to this community, this place and each other,” stated the City of Nanaimo’s Bill Sims, General Manager of Engineering & Public Works


“The Midtown Gateway Project in the City of Nanaimo is transforming a legacy brownfield site impacted by past industrial activity into a revitalized neighbourhood gateway. It features new complete street transportation corridors, a restored and naturalized wetland with public walking trails, and enhanced access to the city’s premier recreation complex. The project started as a how do we fix a traffic problem. The question was, how do we improve this property so that the city can use it for traffic as well as create some good in the world? This is a case of a number of staff coming together and saying how do we do this, and how do we do it right,” stated Bill Sims.

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “You need a team to be effective. Land use is a local government responsibility. But we need much stronger provincial regulations and support so that regional districts are able to mandate requirements for better and more effective land use practices,” stated Lori Iannidinardo, Chair (2022) of the Cowichan Valley Regional District


“We all need to be backed up by each level of government responsibility. As a Regional Director, I will take on my responsibility regarding land use. But so must the other levels of government. Senior governments need to use their regulations to help local governments solve local problems. We need a provincial hammer. But there is nobody on the ground to take responsibility and follow through to resolve issues and concerns. All the agencies have cut back staff. The result is a free-for- all.,” stated Lori Iannidinardo.

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, defines the stream and regulated setback zone as the Natural Commons Asset. The NCA has a financial value which we determine through an analysis of parcel data using BC Assessment for sample groups,” stated Tim Pringle, EAP Chair (October 2022)


“Start with an understanding of the parcel because that is how communities regulate and plan land use. It is the parcel level where you get the information that you need to change practice to protect natural assets. That is what everyone must get their heads around. Having a defensible number allows us to look at riparian condition and set targets for restoration. The riparian condition is one measure of the state of M&M over time. We usually find the streamside setback zone is in a deficit position because things that ought to have occurred to protect it have not,” stated Tim Pringle.

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “In the oral history of the Sunshine Coast, I believe the 2021 Watershed Dialogue will be viewed as an important moment, an inflection point, for the regional team approach,” stated Mayor Bill Beamish, Town of Gibsons


“We can all agree that water is important, that water needs to be protected, and we need to do that sooner rather than later. And it was not just the elected leaders of the three local governments doing the talking. The stewardship sector, Squamish First Nations and provincial government were represented too. Now, as an outcome of the Dialogue, the Sunshine Coast Regional District is looking at creating an aquifer protection area in concert with the Town of Gibsons. This will benefit the Town and other communities reliant on groundwater,” stated Mayor Bill Beamish.

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Nature and natural assets are now part of the mix for local government asset management. This represents a huge shift in thinking because we have always treated nature as an externality in our economic system,” stated David Allen, Asset Management BC (October 2022)


“The old way of thinking comes to mind when we look at what the Public Sector Accounting Board has in mind when it talks about including natural assets in PSAB 3150.. My suggestion is practical and straightforward. Just do what the Town of Gibsons did in 2014. They included an accountant’s note in the Financial Statement that refers to natural assets. That is all you need. An auditor’s note is an appropriate form of recognition and can be accompanied by reference to a separate report specific to natural assets,” stated David Allen

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LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Society tends to neglect the future in favor of the present. Positive change is the result of long, hard work by thinkers and activists. We can be pivotal in steering the future onto a better trajectory.” – Dr. William MacAskill, philosopher, author and professor with the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom (September 2022)


William MacAskill is a proponent of what’s known as longtermism – the view that the deep future is something we have to address now. Although most cultures, particularly in the west, provide a great many commemorations of distant ancestors – statues, portraits, buildings – we are much less willing to consider our far-off descendants. “In societies undergoing rapid change, we feel more disconnected from the distant future because we struggle to conceive what it will be like,” stated William MacAskill.

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